Youth Volunteers Working Hard in Uganda

Wasibota! Good Afternoon!

It has been very busy this month in Mbarara! Between meetings, farm visits, school presentations, and vaccinations, all of the volunteers have had their hands full this June.

Katelyn and Carina continue their work with SNV/FAOC to educate students about the importance of including milk in a balanced diet. They travel to many schools, sometimes visiting over 10 in one day! The work is rewarding when they are able to see the children’s smiling faces.

Olivia and Nikki also carry on with setting up the dairy business centers, presenting their progress in SNV’s TIDE business meeting. Not only were their ideas well received, but they were able to gain a better insight into some of the problems faced by the local farmers through invited speakers. The day was long, but very informative!

However, they were able to step outside the office and get their hands dirty by visiting a nearby demonstration farm, Rubyerwa Dairy Investments LTD. The business development officer, Wilber Begumya, welcomed the volunteers warmly before giving them a full tour.

Bimonthly, local farmers are invited for several training days where they are able to learn about farming practices and animal husbandry, so that they are able to improve the productivity on their own farms.

Pictured above is Uganda’s famous ankole cattle, with impressively large horns. On the right, you can see a cow which was gifted a bell around its neck, signifying it as the 100th addition to the herd.

Both Nikki and Olivia were able to take part in the demonstrations, including those around artificial insemination and cattle management.

Jersey cow exam.

Pictured above volunteer Olivia preforms rectal palpation on a jersey cow with instruction from technician Paul Nabaasa. The procedure is important both in placement of the sperm during AI and in checking the pregnancy status of the cow after insemination has taken place.

Nikki and Wilber had a milking competition after the demonstrations were finished.

Finally, the month was wrapped up by the beginning of the goat vaccination campaign, spearheaded by Carina and Katelyn.

Blood draw, physical exam, and vaccination was preformed on over 300 goats spanning 3 communities, with many more to come!

After blood collection, the volunteers carry out brucella testing to identify the goats that carry brucellosis, a disease that is prominent in Uganda and causes many issues in regards to farm productivity.